David Elstein, the former Channel Five boss, has accused BBC director general Greg Dyke of highlighting the flag-waving patriotism of US channels such as Fox News during the Iraq war to deflect concerns about the corporation's own impartiality during the conflict.

He suggested Mr Dyke was secretly pleased by criticism that the BBC's coverage was not patriotic enough.

Such claims silenced fears within the corporation that the BBC was supporting the British and US decision to attack Iraq by devoting a huge amount of resources to reporting the war, Mr Elstein suggested.

"While Greg Dyke self-righteously contrasts the outspokenness of the Fox product with the BBC's carefully managed attempts at impartiality, BBC news executives muse openly about the continued justification for requiring all TV stations to be impartial," Mr Elstein said in an article on the OpenDemocracy.net website.

Mr Elstein asked whether the BBC and other UK broadcasters "became complicit in what many non-combatant countries regarded as an illegitimate attack".

He argued that "the very resources devoted to war coverage, and the degree of frontline access allowed, seemed a further legitimisation of the war for the viewing public".

"The sheer professionalism - and huge commitment of resources - on display from the broadcasters confirmed, in a sense, the political and military urgency of taking decisive action against Saddam."

"Greg Dyke has welcomed some of the attacks on BBC coverage, especially from the Pentagon: these 'battle honours' will assuage internal anxiety about the role the BBC played," he added.

Earlier this year Mr Dyke made the case for the impartiality of UK broadcast news compared with the "unquestioning" attitude of US networks.

In a speech at Goldsmiths College in London in April, he criticised the "gung-ho patriotism" of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News and said it would be a "terrible mistake" for the BBC to go down this route.

Mr Dyke urged the government not to allow the "Americanisation" of the British media, warning that proposals to liberalise media ownership laws raised questions about impartiality.

He also refuted claims that BBC correspondents in Baghdad had been soft on Saddam Hussein, insisting the corporation's commitment to "independence and impartiality" was absolute.